


For My Sake

by JaceofAllTrade



Category: A3! (Video Game)
Genre: Event Aftermath, Gekka Thoughts if you squint, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Re:Tag Match Halloween Spoilers, Revenge but not really, kidnapping mention
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-09
Updated: 2020-12-09
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:49:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,283
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27973951
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JaceofAllTrade/pseuds/JaceofAllTrade
Summary: !!! PLEASE READ THE 2020 HALLOWEEN EVENT FIRST IF YOU DON’T WANT SPOILERS !!!~After hearing about the kidnapping that occurred during the Halloween event, Chikage decides to do something about it.
Relationships: Chigasaki Itaru/Utsuki Chikage, Takatoo Tasuku/Tsukioka Tsumugi
Comments: 8
Kudos: 32





	For My Sake

After a short conversation and promise to Itaru, Chikage slipped out of their room and quietly passed all the other rooms into the empty lounge. He wasn’t expecting to find anyone, it was fairly late into the night and he made sure to leave before Tasuku went on his morning runs. Chikage took a quick look around before proceeding to the front door and closing the door quietly, locking it and unlocking it a few times more out of habit than anything. He stopped mid lock though and sighed.

“You know, it’s fairly hard to sneak up on someone like me.” Chikage locked the door and turned, eyes landing on the figure leaning on the wall and watching him minutely with his arms crossed.

Tasuku.

“Wasn’t trying to. Where are you going?” Tasuku asked as his eyes followed Chikage who started to walk away and fixed his jacket. It was getting colder out as winter approached, but it wasn’t like Chikage couldn’t handle the bite of winter.

“Just need to pick something up from my sister’s house,” he lied easily and barely spared Tasuku a glance. “Well, I’m off.” He started to leave, but then paused when Tasuku spoke again.

“Do you always have to lie about your sister?”

Chikage kept his expression neutral and turned to look at Tasuku who had pushed off the wall and had this intense determined expression on his face. “Pardon?”

“When have you ever told the truth about your sister, Utsuki? Do you even have one?”

For a moment, Chikage thought it didn’t matter if he did or didn’t have a sister and it definitely didn’t matter if he answered that second question. Actually, he wasn’t even going to bother with answering either. “What do you want, Tasuku?”

“I’m coming with you.”

Chikage paused again and blinked at him. “...To my sister’s house?”

“Utsuki.”

Chikage sighed, “Hah. Just making a joke. Right.” He shook his head. “No, you’re not.”

Tasuku frowned, “I don’t remember asking for your permission.”

“And I’m not letting you get hurt,” Chikage replied and waved him away, starting to leave.

“This isn’t a life or death situation,” Tasuku argued.

“Tasuku—“

“They kidnapped my boyfriend, Utsuki.”

He stopped.

“I’m not letting them get away with this scot free.”

A sigh.

“Besides, it's not personal for you.”

And that made Chikage’s skin crawl because _it was personal._ Another theatre troupe decided to cheat in an event and on top of that, kidnapped Tsumugi so he wouldn’t interfere. When Chikage saw the live video of Tsumugi and Shifuto, he wanted to do nothing more than split the assailants apart until there was nothing recognizable. It didn’t help that he heard Muku and Haruto went on their own and managed to find Tsumugi and Shifuto. _They threatened his family._ He wanted to ruin their lives and make them suffer until the end of time, but Itaru made him promise he, at least, wouldn’t hurt them physically if he were to go. And here he was, in front of Mankai Company, talking to Tasuku who also wanted some sort of revenge on the other theatre troupe.

“It is,” Chikage muttered distantly.

“What?”

“It’s nothing.” Chikage narrowed his eyes. He should be lucky Tasuku couldn’t see his face right now. “But fine, let’s just go.”

From the balcony, a pair of narrowed eyes watched them leave the premises as he frowned. “Tch.” The blonde stepped away from the balcony and back into the second floor lounge, turning to Azami who was sitting on one of the couches and looked up at Sakyo. He opened his mouth to say something, but someone walked into the room.

“Ah,” Itaru mused and stepped further in. “Sakyo-san. Azami. Day and night cycle seems off. Good evening.”

Azami looked over, “Evening. What’re you here so late for?”

Itaru hummed and moved toward the cabinets full of snacks, “Just wanted to grab a snack since my stash was running low, running a dungeon soon.” He rifled through the cabinets, ignoring the questionably tasty snacks that some of his fellow members loved for some reason. “I’m surprised you’re up so late though, Azami, something about skin care.”

Azami didn’t answer.

“Chigasaki.”

“Hm?”

“Why’d you let Utsuki go?”

“Hm.”

Itaru let that question sit for a while before Sakyo warned, “Chigasaki.”

“Caught huh.” Sighing, Itaru took out one of the chip bags and closed the cabinet. “Listen, it’s—what the fuck? Who clips it like this? This is misleading.” He held up the bag with one hand and closed his hand around the bag below the clip just to be met with pure air, sliding his hand down until he reached the top of the actual chip mound within the bag. Which wasn’t much at all, might he add.

“Chigasaki.”

“Right,” Itaru lowered the bag and brought it with him to plop down on the couch across from Azami. “Anyway,” Itaru pulled out his phone and opened up one of his many mobages to start depleting his LP, “it’s not my job to wrangle in Senpai, he can do whatever he pleases.”

“Like possibly smearing Mankai’s name by pulling this stunt.”

“Says the one who let him go anyway,” Itaru shot back without missing a beat. He was met with silence from the two before eventually sighing, “Give Senpai more credit than that, Sakyo-san, he knows what he’s doing.”

“If he—“

“He won’t,” Itaru quickly assured, not even wanting that train of thought to continue. “Trust me.”

Sakyo huffed, “Excuse me if it’s hard to do so.”

“Ouch. Still,” Itaru pressed auto on one of his battles and set his phone aside to look at Azami. “I’m surprised you didn’t go too, Azami. Wasn't Shifuto taken too?”

Azami pursed his lips and seemed to weigh his options before admitting, “He made me promise I wouldn’t go.”

“And you listened?”

Azami narrowed his eyes, “What was that?”

“Maxed out intimidation huh.”

“Excuse me?”

“Haha. Scary, aren’t you?” Itaru picked up his phone and flicked off auto mode.

“Don’t try to piss me off then.”

Itaru leaned further into the couch, “Wasn’t trying to, just surprised is all.”

“Leave Bon alone, Chigasaki.”

Before Itaru could respond, they heard someone else step in and all turned to see Tsumugi blinking back at them in slight confusion.

“Tsukioka,” Sakyo greeted.

Tsumugi nodded at him, “Sakyo-san. Itaru-kun. Azami-kun.”

Itaru set his phone aside again and clapped his hands together, “Great! Now that we all remember our names, what are you up so late for, Tsumugi?”

After giving Itaru a perplexed look, Tsumugi looked away and rubbed the back of his neck as if ashamed, “I was going to ask the same thing to all of you. Especially you, Azami-kun.”

“Is it really that weird to stay up once in a while?” Azami exclaimed, though there wasn’t any heat behind his words.

“For you, it is extremely weird,” Itaru answered unhelpfully, which earned a glare from Azami.

“We were actually going to bed now,” Sakyo stated and started for their room as Azami wordlessly stood from the couch to follow him.

“After all of that scolding…” Itaru mumbled under his breath and picked up his phone.

“Actually,” Tsumugi reached for Sakyo for a moment before pulling his hand back and letting it drop to his side. “You saw Tasuku leave, didn’t you?”

Pausing, Sakyo sighed.

“Do you know where he went?”

“...I have an idea.”

“I see.”

“Don’t worry, Tsumugi,” Itaru waved away his concern with one hand, “Senpai’s in his party. He’ll carry him.”

Tsumugi frowned, “Chikage-san?”

“And you can thank Sakyo-san for letting them both go.”

“Oi,” Sakyo warned Itaru, but wasn’t able to say anything else as someone walked in.

“Ah, what an interesting mix of personalities,” Azuma commented and smiled at them.

Tsumugi ducked his head slightly, “Good evening, Azuma-san.”

“Good evening.”

Itaru, who was slouched even more on the couch and kept his eyes on his game, spoke up, “Assuming you’re here for the same reason as us, I take it your roommate also chose his own route.”

Azuma’s smile seemed to falter a bit. “You’d be correct in assuming so.”

Itaru hummed, “What a coincidence.”

“Chigasaki,” Sakyo started.

“That’s three of them, Sakyo-san,” Itaru held up three fingers, “they’ll be perfectly fine. As if they wouldn’t have been in the first place, and I’m assuring you _again,_ Senpai’s not gonna do anything drastic.”

“Guy was worried for Muku’s sake,” Azuma added.

“Then I should’ve gone too.”

They all turned to the entrance as Juza and Banri looked back at them.

Banri scoffed and pushed past Juza, “Easy for you to say, you would’ve just gotten in the way.”

“If it was for Muku—“ Juza started to argue.

“Shut up,” Banri waved away his argument, “I wouldn’t have let ya go anyway. It would’ve made the company look bad.”

“As if this won’t already,” Sakyo pointed out.

Itaru sighed, “Again, you let them go too.”

Azami scoffed, “Like Shitty Sakyo could go up against them to stop them anyway.”

“Hah?”

“Oi,” Banri interjected, “S’fine right? We know they can take care of themselves and it’s not like they’re fighting some big shots, just some shitty cheaters. I say they can do whatever the hell they want.”

“Spoken like a true leader,” Itaru mused.

Tsumugi sighed, “Maybe so, but I’m still worried they could get hurt somehow.”

Azuma placed a hand on Tsumugi’s shoulder, “While we understand your worry, Tsumugi, they are indeed adults who can take care of themselves.”

That didn’t seem to ease Tsumugi at all as he dropped his eyes to the ground and fiddled with his hands. “Still…”

“Plus!” Banri looked around the room, “Even if they did get hurt, we’d just double down right?”

“Yeah,” Juza agreed.

“Absolutely not,” Sakyo said with a frown, “The company’s image would shatter.”

“Then feel free to stop us.”

Itaru peeked over his phone and murmured, “What the hell happened to not wanting to make the company look bad?”

Azuma chuckled, “I think it’s interesting how fired up you are about the possibility, Banri.”

“It’s a fight, of course he is,” Sakyo huffed.

“Seriously though, Tsumugi-san,” Banri said, ignoring Sakyo’s comment and giving the blue haired man a smile, “everything’ll be fine.”

«~•~»

“You’re still awake.”

Despite the fact he was wearing his headphones, Itaru heard Chikage’s muffled voice through them perfectly because for once he wasn’t listening to music. He wasn’t listening to anything really. Honestly, he was probably wearing them just to keep himself from straining to listen for footsteps outside their room. Though, music probably would’ve helped with that.

Pulling off his headphones and swiveling his chair around, Itaru smiled at Chikage, “Welcome back, Senpai.”

Chikage seemed to pause for a moment before shrugging off his jacket. “I’m home.” Going to his side of the room, Chikage hung his jacket and glanced over at Itaru, “What are you working on?”

Turning back to his computer, Itaru clicked on a couple things, “Updating my schedule for next week.”

“Really.” Itaru heard Chikage walk over and felt him lean over, reading the schedule for a moment before pointing at the noticeably empty day. “And why’s this day completely empty?”

“Rest day,” Itaru shrugged and leaned back in his chair, “it’s been a while since I took one. Plus, maybe we can do something.” He finally turned to meet Chikage’s eyes as the green haired man looked back fondly.

“Like a date?”

“Like a date.”

Chikage’s smile turned sly. “Awfully bold of you to determine the day when you haven’t even consulted me.”

Itaru scoffed and looked back at his computer screen, “Yeah well, I miss my boyfriend.”

“Well, he’s right here.” Chikage leaned over and placed a gentle kiss on Itaru’s forehead. “I’ll clear my schedule,” Chikage murmured as Itaru’s lips twitched into a smile.

“Thanks…” Itaru moved and tilted his head up as Chikage leaned down to capture his lips in a sweet and slow kiss. This time, he couldn’t help but smile into the kiss. He was a bit disappointed when Chikage pulled away, but he didn’t show it as he watched the other cross back to his side of the room. It wasn’t until Chikage pulled off his shirt to start changing did Itaru finally sigh and speak up, “Senpai?”

“Hm?”

Thankfully, Chikage had his back turned to him because Itaru started subconsciously fidgeting. “I know you like…” He waved his hand in a vague gesture as he tried to find the right words. “...have this weird expectation for yourself, but you don’t have to always do it alone. I know I can’t exactly do much, but I’m still your boyfriend and roommate and co-worker and whatever the hell else title I unlocked along the way.”

Chikage didn’t turn to look at him and that made Itaru fidget more, reluctantly continuing.

“Anyway, I… I care about your safety just as much as you care about everyone else’s. I don’t think I’d be able to stand it if you just…” He trailed off then and looked away from his boyfriend, his hands gripping harshly at his chair as he swallowed an impossible lump in his throat. “If you didn’t come back one day.” Itaru puffed out his cheeks and took a deep breath. “Point is, lemme help you out when I can.”

There was silence for a long while that Itaru feared he’d said the wrong thing, especially since he didn’t want to look at what face Chikage could be making right now, but then he finally replied.

“Chi—“ Chikage cut himself off and huffed. “Itaru…”

The mix of emotions in his tone of voice made Itaru finally look at the green haired man as he walked back over and reached up to cup one of his cheeks, looking down at Itaru with this pained expression.

“I think I’d snap if anything happened to you…” Chikage whispered, his voice shaking just the slightest bit.

Itaru stared into those blueish gray eyes for a few more moments before raising a hand and placing it over Chikage’s hand. “Then, keep me directly out of the danger or something, but I wanna keep _you_ outta unnecessary danger too.” His voice cracked but he persisted. “Just once, I wanna lay in bed with you and not have to worry about you leaving in the middle of the night and I have to wake up wondering if you’re even alive.” Itaru dropped his gaze for a moment as he mumbled the last part, “It sucks, Chikage-san, it really does.”

“Itaru…”

“Promise me?” Itaru looked back up at Chikage and tried not to shy away from the other’s gaze. Chikage’s eyes darted all around Itaru’s face as if searching for something and Itaru couldn’t really pinpoint what it was he was searching for but eventually he met his eyes again.

“...You have my word.”

Itaru’s eyes crinkled as he smiled. “Thank you.”

Chikage leaned in to kiss the top of his head before kissing him on the lips. “This is quite a reaction to something that didn’t turn violent.”

Itaru rolled his eyes, “Yeah well, can you blame me?”

He chuckled, “I guess not.”

«~•~»

After parting with Chikage and Guy, Tasuku quietly cracked the door open and peeked inside before sighing at the fact that Tsumugi was at his desk reading a book with the lamp light on.

Opening the door wider, Tasuku stepped inside and closed the door behind him, “Tadaima.” He kept his gaze away from his boyfriend as he pulled off his jacket and shoes.

“Okaeri.”

Silence fell between them as Tasuku continued to change clothes. They should probably talk, the tension around them was so thick and Tasuku could tell that Tsumugi wanted to say something. Tasuku wanted to say something as well, so maybe Tsumugi would want to talk after Tasuku said his piece. Tasuku had been working on trying to talk more about his feelings, now would be no different.

Okay.

Deep breath and—

“Tasuku, I—“

“Tsumugi—“

Turning around, Tasuku met eyes with Tsumugi who stared back with a look of surprise before smiling and laughing. He bookmarked his page and set his book aside, adjusting his glasses. “Guess we both have something to say huh.”

Tasuku nodded, “Yeah. I guess so.” Sitting down, Tasuku gestured at the other, “Go ahead.”

Eyes watching him for a while, Tsumugi studied him for a moment before exhaling a heavy breath, “I’m not… exactly sure how to word this. I uh… I appreciate you, Tasuku, and I love you. I love you a lot.”

There was a ‘but’ to this sentence, wasn’t there?

“But…”

There it was.

“I still don’t think you should’ve gone.”

“Tsumugi—”

“Matte,” Tsumugi raised a hand as Tasuku reluctantly shut his mouth. “Before you try to refute me, lemme finish.”

After a bit of contemplation, Tasuku nodded once and gestured for him to continue.

Though, it seemed the other struggled with his words for a moment, opening and closing his mouth as he considered his racing thoughts. Tasuku almost wanted to say something, but Tsumugi finally settled on something coherent.

“While I’m aware you went for my sake, I was still worried you would’ve gotten hurt somehow. I appreciate the thought, but don’t…” Tsumugi trailed off and looked away, huffing in exasperation. “Don’t do something so… So _stupidly dangerous._ ” He murmured, “Especially for my sake.”

Tasuku took that lull in the moment to speak, “Nothing would’ve happened. We’d agreed beforehand that it wouldn’t have gotten violent—“

“That’s not the point!” Tsumugi dropped his head and stared at the ground as Tasuku snapped his mouth shut and warily watched Tsumugi whose shoulders were shaking slightly. “You don’t know what would’ve happened. You don’t fully know the outcome of your actions, Tasuku. What if the other party weren’t as kind as you? What then? You’d all get hurt because I was dumb enough to get caught. I already put Shifuto and Muku in danger, I couldn’t handle three more… It doesn’t matter if it didn’t end in violence, I was still careless and that put far more people in danger.”

Then, there was silence and the tension was so thick in the room that Tasuku was sure he could grab it if he tried.

“I don’t believe that,” he finally said.

That surprised Tsumugi so much he lifted his head and stared at Tasuku with this look of disbelief and confusion.

“I don’t believe you were careless,” Tasuku clarified, “You’re telling me that I couldn’t possibly know the consequences of my actions. Well, I’m telling you that you couldn’t either. You didn’t know you were going to get kidnapped, you didn’t know Shifuto would be dragged along with you, you didn’t know that Muku and Haruto would come looking for you. You didn’t know any of this would happen, so why are you blaming yourself for things completely out of your control?”

“I-if I had been more subtle, then—“

Tasuku carefully grabbed Tsumugi’s shoulders and looked him in the eyes, “You weren’t actively searching for illegal activity. You just happened to catch them in the act, that’s not carelessness. Curiosity, maybe. But you couldn’t have predicted what'd happen next.”

Eyes searching for something unknown to Tasuku, Tsumugi dropped his gaze back to the ground and mumbled, “Why are you turning my words around at me?”

“Because if I don’t, you’d keep blaming yourself for it.” Tasuku pulled him into a hug then. “It’s not your fault.” Pulling Tsumugi into a hug, Tasuku sighed and rubbed his back, “I don’t want to see you get hurt either, Tsumugi.”

Finally allowing himself to deflate in his boyfriend’s arms, Tsumugi released a heavy breath, “This hurt me too. Please don’t do it again.”

Realization struck him as Tasuku tightened his hold around Tsumugi, his hand tangling in his hair. “I promise. Just… report it immediately or something next time.”

Tsumugi puffed out a laugh and finally wrapped his arms around Tasuku, nodding in understanding.

«~•~»

The night was chilly and eventful, Guy wasn’t sure if it was truly worth it. Emotions were a fickle thing; he still didn’t understand them, much less his own. Still, this feeling he’d had in his chest felt like it was compressing onto his lungs and he felt trapped. He didn’t know what emotion it was, he wasn’t even sure if it was an emotion at all. But finding out how much danger Muku was in lit something within Guy.

He’d have to wrangle in his emotions next time, this reaction was much too dangerous not only for himself but others involved apparently. He still didn’t understand why though.

“Guy-san.”

Both Chikage and Guy looked over at the pink haired boy at the end of the hall as Muku had his gaze on the floor and fidgeted with his hands. “I wish you luck, Guy-san,” Chikage said with a sympathizing smile as Guy simply nodded before Chikage turned to the door to his shared room and opened it, heading inside as the door shut quietly behind him.

Guy walked over to Muku and crouched in front of him so he could look up and meet his eyes. Muku immediately averted his gaze and bit his lower lip. “Little Prince, you should be in bed,” Guy coaxed quietly and reached forward to grab the other’s trembling hands only to frown at Muku stepping back.

“...Please don’t do that again,” Muku murmured.

Guy frowned, “Do what again?”

Sucking in a breath, Muku pursed his lips, “I know you went to do something about what happened at the Halloween event yesterday. It’s not worth it. After all, I’m just a worthless, pathetic excuse of melting tofu dipped in soy sauce as black as the hole in the ground that’s gonna swallow me up.”

“Sakisaka,” Guy called before he dropped further.

Muku stopped and glanced at Guy before huffing, his eyes downcasting once again. “It was solved already, why did you feel the need to go?”

“I…” Guy started and shut his mouth as he thought about it. “I’m not sure… I suppose I felt like I needed to and the feeling wouldn’t go away unless I did something. As a matter of fact, I still feel odd.”

“Why?” Muku frowned, “I thought you went and—I don’t know—did something…”

Before Guy could answer, the wind decided to pick up as Muku full-body shivered and curled in on himself slightly. “Ah,” Guy stood and offered his hand, “let’s get you warm before we continue this conversation.”

Nodding, Muku wordlessly took his hand as Guy pulled him to the kitchen then the lounge before gesturing for Muku to sit down. He did and shifted uncomfortably for a moment before freezing at the feeling of something soft being thrown around his shoulders. Looking at the blanket around him, Muku raised his gaze over to Guy who simply smiled at him, “Thank you.”

Guy hummed in response and moved over to the kitchen, opening cabinets and pulling things out and shifting things around as they sat in companionable silence. When he finally finished the cup of hot chocolate, he brought it over to Muku who smiled and thanked him once again.

Sitting next to him, Guy clasped his hands together and released a breath, watching Muku face forward and carefully sip at his hot chocolate for a moment before he finally decided to speak up. “We agreed we wouldn’t.”

Pausing just as he was about to go in for another sip, Muku narrowed his eyes slightly before lowering the cup from his lips and down to his lap. However, Muku still didn’t look at him.

_Uncharacteristic,_ Guy thought with an internal frown, _Sakisaka seems much more upset than I originally gathered. Is this what Utsuki meant?_

Since Muku didn’t otherwise respond verbally, Guy continued, “We were heading there, but… we concluded it wasn’t worth it, as you said.”

“So… nothing happened.”

“Nothing happened.”

“...”

This time Guy frowned visibly. Was Muku still upset?

“Why?”

“Why?” Guy echoed in confusion.

“Why didn’t you end up doing anything?”

Shifting slightly, Guy turned his attention forward and let the question simmer for a moment as he thought about how best to answer it. Patiently, Muku sipped at his hot chocolate again, not bothering to push Guy for an answer.

“It was Utsuki’s suggestion.”

_“Utsuki? Is there something amiss?”_

_Tasuku and Guy looked back at their third companion who had stopped walking at some point and looked up at the moonlit and starry sky. He made an airy laugh and closed his eyes. “What am I doing?” He asked in a tone of voice Guy rarely heard from him._

_Guy shared a look with Tasuku._

_Then, Chikage dropped his gaze to them, “Let’s head back.”_

_“Why?” Tasuku questioned with a frown._

_Turning around, Chikage started walking, “I know better than anyone that revenge does no one any favors.”_

_“I don’t understand,” Guy watched Chikage as he paused._

_“No… I guess you wouldn’t. But trust me,” Chikage turned to look at them, “it’s not worth it. We’d be hurting a lot more people than we realize. In fact, just us leaving is probably hurting our family.”_

_Guy frowned._

_“You don’t look convinced, Guy-san.”_

_“How is this hurting them?”_

_Instead of answering, Chikage insisted, “Let’s head home.”_

“Truthfully, I still don’t understand what Utsuki meant by that. Perhaps, you can explain it to me?”

Finally smiling behind the lip of his mug, Muku nodded and lowered the cup from his face, “But first you have to promise me you’ll figure out your emotions first before acting on a whim.”

Surprised for a moment, Guy blinked at Muku before smiling back and patting his head, “I swear on my life.”

**Author's Note:**

> There might be a part two to this, but we’ll see. It’d cover Sakyo and Azami, and Banri and Juza’s conversations, so if y’all are interested I guess, lemme know???
> 
> Also I feel like I can’t write Guy for shit, so I’m sorry if the ending feels a bit OOC.


End file.
